Lorient, France

Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis. They later built additional warehouses across the bay in 1628, at the location which became known as L'Orient . Later, the French East India Company, founded in 1664 and chartered by King Louis XIV, established shipyards there, thus giving an impetus to the development of the city. In 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession, Britain launched a Raid on Lorient to destroy French shipping.